Harm's Way
by Tigerett
Summary: Pikachu mulls over the times in which he has harmed his best friend. One-shot and drabble(?)


Harm's Way

**Pikachu mulls over the times he has hurt his best friend. One-shot, takes place the night after "A Conspiracy to Conquer." (I think it's drabble-ish, but I haven't read many of those. I'll leave it to you, random reader that may or may not read the story!)**

The full moon was brilliant.

Its reflected light was pouring over four human campers and two Pokémon, both electric types.

One was of the name Dedenne. The little brown mouse-like creature snored peacefully as it laid next to its someday trainer, Bonnie, who was next to Serena.

A little farther to the left, where the human males slept, was Pikachu.

He was on the chest of his own trainer, Ash Ketchum of Pallet town.

Pikachu wasn't particularly sleepy; not after what happened today.

He'd electrocuted Ash. Again.

It was so annoying sometimes, having his mind taken over so darn easily!

_"If I could have anything, it would be the ability to stay within control of my own mind."_ Pikachu thought, listening to the content sounds of everyone breathing. He heard Ash mumble something and absentmindedly scratch at his small bandages.

Ash had insisted that they were unnecessary, that he was used to it by now. Although the strict lecture from all of his friends and Pokémon quickly caused him to sit still long enough to be treated.

The burns weren't too severe, luckily, but they did find a large lightning bolt-shaped bruise on his chest.

It had given them all a slight scare.

"Where did this come from?" Clemont had asked.

"Oh, Pikachu got me with iron tail. That's all."

This had absolutely _terrified_ Pikachu.

_"That's all? What in the world goes on in your head to make you think __**"that's all!?"**_ Pikachu had wondered as they iced it.

He'd seen Ash's tiny winces.

That bruise hurt a lot more than he'd been letting on.

But what got Pikachu thinking much more was what Ash had said first.

He was used to it.

How many times now had Pikachu sent attacks at his best friend?

The first time he remembered was when they met.

Those were out of annoyance; mere thundershocks of the level 3 danger zone.

Hardly harmful at all, since the worst they could do was temporarily paralyze a person.

But after learning thunderbolt, Pikachu had to be a bit more careful.

Thunderbolts were a level 8 out of 14 danger priority, since they sent more than 10,000 volts- not to mention he seemed to be more powerful than most Pikachu's.

He still sent Ash a shock every once in a while, but those were for fun. The way a friend pokes at another to make a joke, such as an occasional "electric alarm clock" to get Ash up on his more lazy days.

Not full on thunderbolts, meant for winning battles or blasting off Team Rocket.

The first time he recalled giving Ash a more painful shock was when he'd ended up with that darn electric overload, right as they got into a new region.

Pikachu was totally confused during that time. He couldn't tell a friend from foe or doughnut.

At least they had been medium shocks. But that bite was something else.

It was the way that Ash held on, and how he kept on fighting which helped Pikachu remember who he was, and more importantly, who he was biting.

It had only needed a tiny amount of attention, although Professor Birch had double checked for infection.

You never knew when a Pokémon bite was contaminated no matter how close you were to the said Pokémon.

Pikachu sighed and walked off of his trainer's chest, and hopped onto a nearby rock.

He then stared up at the moon, recalling the second time he had given Ash a hard time.

That would be in the Hoenn region again when he'd gotten amnesia.

First, stupid Team Rocket had totally fooled his easily tricked mind.

And then he had started to attack Ash- With thunder.

That was among the most dangerous of electric attacks.

A level 10 in the danger zone Pokémon kept.

While Pikachu blamed that time mostly on Team Rocket, that it was their crazy machine blowing up which had caused the ridiculous trouble... Pikachu still felt guilty.

If he had stopped and listened to Ash's heartfelt pleas, maybe he wouldn't have awoken to see his best friend lying unconscious, all memories returned.

The lick was an apology that Ash had wholly accepted with a big hug.

Blasting off Team Rocket afterwards also felt really nice in Pikachu's opinion.

How _dare_ they try to split the sacred friendship he and Ash held!

What was worse is that they were still trying.

Maybe someday Team Rocket would get that it wouldn't work- both Ash and himself would never give up looking for each other.

A cloud passed over the moon and Pikachu listened to the silent calls of all the wild Pokémon around him.

The path through the Battle frontier and Sinnoh had been far easier.

Hardly any attack went awry, except for one particular volt tackle that Ash had blocked.

Pikachu was going to run into a wall and his trainer wasn't going to let that happen.

Simple as that.

And then all throughout the Sinnoh region, hardly anything happened. Pikachu couldn't recall any times when he had accidentally hurt Ash- only the two times after Chimchar- and later Monferno- had lost control was when he could recall one of his own Pokémon attacking him unintentionally.

But then came Unova.

Another time of getting electric overload- thanks to that legendary, Zekrom.

In Pikachu's opinion, he hardly called being unable to use electric attacks as "a gift from above."

Ash had to help cure Pikachu, and that was apparently by grabbing him during a long hard thunderbolt.

Why in the world did Zekrom mess with them anyway?

_"Legendary Pokémon will be legendary Pokémon."_ He decided mentally.

His mind then wandered to later on in the Unova region, after the league was over.

During the whole Reshiram escapade.

Pikachu was beginning to hate mind-control at that point, always waking up to find his friend hurt. And usually by him.

Of course, this time was probably among the worst of them all.

The first time Ash had fallen unconscious, it was due to the lack of air while rushing through a large river.

This time, it had been because Pikachu personally knocked him out.

With a _super-charged thunderbolt._

Finding himself suddenly on Ash's chest, looking at the small electric burns all over his face, Pikachu knew.

He had attacked Ash while being mind-controlled.

And the worst part wasn't the mind-control, no.

It was waking up to find his trainer, his _friend_ badly hurt. And knowing it was his fault.

The treatment later had once again, been denied by Ash. But a few times of being called a kid by Iris- over his owies- had completely changed his mind.

It was one of the few times Pikachu was grateful for Iris's ability to frustrate Ash (although it also reminded him of Misty.)

Now it was beginning to become regular, a scary thought in Pikachu's mind.

He would lose control of himself and Ash would get hurt because of that.

But never before had Pikachu used his other attacks- that was the big thing for him this time.

A quick attack, two thunderbolts (one lasting for over a minute), a near electro-ball, and an iron tail.

That was all he'd thrown at Ash.

What was worse is that Pikachu was getting stronger each and every day.

It was the biggest reason they'd decided thunder would go- the attack was a bit too dangerous to keep around.

Ash and Pikachu would often talk about what move he'd forget next if a new one came up (it was they're deep bond communication only every once in a while did Ash understand Pikachu's full sentences.)

First to go was agility, since quick attack was better.

Then went thundershock to make room for iron tail.

But then came volt tackle and what it replaced.

The duo had chosen thunder, which most often, a person or Pokémon would keep.

The reason Ash said it was better to keep thunderbolt was because thunder had lower accuracy. Pikachu wanted to get rid of it because of two reasons.

1\. Ash was actually right for once.

2\. He felt that he'd been getting to powerful to stay around.

At the time, Pikachu felt as if thunder was too dangerous.

What if he was mind-wiped again? What if he forgot that Ash was his friend? His BEST friend for crying out loud!

And then the subject of mind-control came around, and naturally, Pikachu became an obvious target.

So yes, he was grateful thunder was gone.

Volt tackle only had a danger level of 9 because of the recoil making up for damage given.

And electro-ball, which replaced that, depended more on the users speed. Therefore, it varied on the danger scale.

_Whoosh_

The sound of wind blowing over grass interrupted Pikachu's deep thinking.

The sounds of Ash's mumblings got louder and he heard:

_"Pikachu... Please. Remember..."_

So he quickly jumped off of the rock and back to his trainer's chest, cuddling his face into Ash's.

The smile that took place there, along with a sigh of relief was soothing to Pikachu's black-tipped ears.

_"I may not be able to always prevent myself from hurting Ash, but at least I can comfort him afterwards."_ Pikachu thought, feeling sleepier by each passing second.

He felt himself suddenly being embraced in a hug, as Ash wrapped his arms around the small mouse.

Pikachu smiled softly and snuggled in with his trainer.

_"Sorry about today Ash, but I promise to try harder in the future!"_ Pikachu thought, determined.

_"You keep getting hurt because I can't control myself."_

Pikachu yawned, knowing his time of thinking would soon be up.

_"But that's going to change from this day forward, because I'll never allow some stupid Malamar to control my mind again. Or anyone else for that matter!_

_"Ash, I promise that from now on, I will always fight my hardest to keep from being controlled in any way- for both our sakes."_ Pikachu vowed mentally, the blackness that wanted to take over finally winning.

Ash blinked his eyes open and he stared at Pikachu for a moment, as the small mouse seemed slightly discontent about something while lying on his chest.

So he began to rub Pikachu on the head.

"Bud, I know you feel bad for what happened today, but I don't think it was your fault."

"I know that there are people who don't care about what we have. Our bond that reaches farther than anything I can imagine." Ash said, looking up at the stars and scratching his right cheek.

The right words struggled to make it through to Ash's head, as he wasn't the world's greatest thinker.

In the end, he told his sleeping partner:

"I bet you if they knew what it felt like to have such a connection, they wouldn't do the bad stuff that they do. Then we wouldn't have to deal with you getting taken over by they're crazy devices, or Pokémon who are really creepy."

Ash smiled at Pikachu's content face, knowing he'd struck a small cord.

"I know that you don't mean to hurt me sometimes, but remember that I'll always love you as my number one partner and best friend. No matter what."

And with that, Ash gave a profound yawn, shifting only slightly as he didn't want to disturb his friend.

Ash fell asleep again, not knowing that he'd gotten the exact worries of his friend and comforted them.

As the Hoothoot fluttered around and the Deerling slept about the forest, Pikachu and Ash both slept harmoniously, their dreams both filled with the hope of a better tomorrow.

**And there we go! A cute and short one-shot.**

**I've always found the bond between Ash and Pikachu amazing (even though it's just a show) and wanted to kinda take a moment to remember that it's still there, even in the Kalos region. Although this is my very first one-shot.**

**The episodes referenced are:**

**1\. "Get the Show on the Road!"**

**2\. "A Scare To Remember!"**

**3\. "Talking a Good Game!"**

**4\. "Chim-Charred!"**

**5\. "Fighting Ire with Fire!"**

**6\. "In the Shadow of Zekrom!"**

**7\. "Team Plasma and the Awakening Ceremony!"**

**(An amazing amount of exclamation points, huh?)**

**Because I know that some of you might question which episodes they are.**

**And yes, I know that I missed a few episodes where Pikachu becomes 'controlled' ("Pikachu Re-Volts," "A Better Pill To Swallow," and "Control Freak.")**

**I couldn't and didn't want to find a way to put them in there. Let's say that they were shorter moments far in the past and Pikachu wanted to forget them.**

**I can't think of anything more to put on this, so...**

**See y'all next time! (It shall come! ... Eventually.)**


End file.
